I love the sound of sniffling in the morning

Yes, to tweak a phrase from Apocalypse Now, I do love the sound of sniffling in the morning. And the discreet wipe of tears audience members in the 9 a.m. screening of “Once” were trying to pull off. Myself included. I don’t remember falling for an onscreen couple so much earlier than they will (or won’t) tumble for each other.

A Dublin Busker and a Czech immigrant make lovely music together. Literally. He can wail a emo song with the best of them. She does a nice job at the piano. Glen Hansard who plays the street performer is the lead singer of The Flames. (Didn’t know them, now I have to take a listen.) And if there was a reason to think “hmmm, what was that Alan Parker movie?” when watching this musical treat, it’s because Hansard debuted in The Commitments lo those many years ago.

Writer-director John Carney has made a truer, more surprising musical than that one, however.

Marketa Irglova plays The Girl, who begins the twosomes’ beautiful duet of a performance when she tosses a coin in his guitar case on the street one night. He’s not properly grateful. This is a film I can hardly wait to review. What stands in the way, but hopefully not for long, is it hasn’t been picked up for U.S. distribution yet. I’ll let you know when it does.

One that you will be seeing, “The Savages” was part two of a surprising morning double header. Tamara Jenkins debuted with The Slums of Beverly Hills. Tonight “The Savages” premieres, with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as siblings called upon to care for their aging father.

He is sliding into dementia. And Dad (Philip Bosco), was never that kind to begin with. Sure it sounds a bit blue. It is afterall about death, as Hoffman’s character reminds his sister in a spectacular riff on nursing homes marketed to guilt-ridden adult children. Jenkins has written a deft and funny, deeply humane script.

Day Une sort of got a way from me. And now, it’s time to head off to the PBS party.
PBS parties? You think with a bit of snark.
Well, I’ll let you know. And we’ll circle back to Day One. later on. The very abridged version goes something like this:
At the press conference for the festival, Bob (that would be Redford) and Geoff (that would be Gilmore, who’s been the honcho of the fest for 17 years) were wearing large buttons on their black sweaters that say: FOCUS ON FILM. Whatever could they mean by that? To be continued….

Glen’s band- who are definitely worth checking out by the way- is actually called ‘The Frames’. Take a listen to their albums- the latest, ‘The Cost’ gets a U.S. release quite soon, but if you want a real feel for them, try to catch a show next time they’re in your area. One of the best live acts out there.

Hoping ‘Once’ gets a proper release over here. It’d be great to see what everyone’s raving about.

Lis

Glen’s band- who are definitely worth checking out by the way- is actually called ‘The Frames’. Take a listen to their albums- the latest, ‘The Cost’ gets a U.S. release quite soon, but if you want a real feel for them, try to catch a show next time they’re in your area. One of the best live acts out there.

Hoping ‘Once’ gets a proper release over here. It’d be great to see what everyone’s raving about.

Lisa Kennedy has been The Denver Post film critic for quite a spell. The job returned her to the town she grew up in after 20 years of living elsewhere: mostly in New York City. During the time she's been back, she was voted into the National Society of Film Critics, a first for a Colorado reviewer. When she began Diary of a Mad Moviegoer, she wasn't just cribbing from Tyler Perry. In fact, she seldom goes all Madea on movies, thinking the gig is more like a conversation than a competition about who's right about which flick.